Gattaca
by MerryxMaking
Summary: “Congratulations, Kuchiki. You finally got what you came here for” But I was not Byakuya Kuchiki. Not yaoi because that doesn't fit. Rated for language and suggestiveness.
1. Chapter 1

It was just another day, really. Go to work, type up reports...the usual. But today was different. You probably want to know how, right? Well, today was the day it finally happened. Years of work and risks and dreaming had paid off for me. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I sat at my office, working as usual, keeping my workspace ridiculously (and uncharacteristically, considering what I'm like) clean when the director of our latest mission approached me. In case that confused you, I work for the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation, or GAC. It's the best space-flight conglomerate there is, not to boast.  
"You keep a clean desk, Kuchiki" I looked up, wondering why Director Aizen – who never really wanted anything to do with anyone – was suddenly so interested in me. But I shrugged, trying to keep in character.  
"I try. Any reason why you came from three floors up to come tell me that?" It may have sounded harsh, but that's how I had to be. And besides, Aizen always seemed to prefer those who showed distain towards him, he was weird like that.  
"Nothing gets past you, does it? You're right, I need to talk to you" Every time I heard that phrase my heart would start to race. If he found out about me, it would be a disaster, and not just for me either.  
"Yes, sir?" He smiled that creepy smile he always has, and I start to wonder if he really does know.  
"I want you on that shuttle to Titan next week. Any problems?" Although Aizen would only accept one answer, he would still ask. I shook my head, still taking in what he said. Ever since I could remember I've dreamed of going into space. It's unclear to me why I wanted to do this, whether it's because I want to see other planets or because I'm just sick and tired of this one, I've always wanted to go where the night time stars are. Titan is the fourteenth moon of Saturn, and it's a mission we've all been working on for a long time now. Aizen left as quickly as he had arrived, probably to go torture someone else. But just as he reached the end of the hall he shouted back to me  
"Oh, you'll need to go get some final tests done." Then left. But that was fine; I had time to prepare for the tests.

It may have seemed suspicious that I left as soon as Aizen said that, but I needed time to get back home and get everything I needed. It was something my housemate was used to – in fact, it was something he had to help me with. He agreed to it a long time ago, when this whole thing really started. But as always, he was slightly drunk. I guess that's all you can do when you're stuck inside all day with no other tasks. Though he had to be careful – his drinking could affect everything. But I'm just going on about nothing now, and it's not like anything went wrong. I got my things and came back to Gattaca in time for the tests. As always, Dr Kurosaki would talk about one thing or another (I never really listened during genetic tests) which I could care less about. Any other time I would listen to him and probably say more back to him, but I had to make sure the results said what they were supposed to – what I wanted them to – say. And like every other time this had happened, it came up with the same result:  
VALID: BYAKUYA KUCHIKI  
I'd relax after that.  
"So you're on the new mission?"  
"Yes, just found out today" He nodded and switched off the machines that determined who I was.  
"Tell me you're the least bit excited." He looked at me as if expecting me to jump around and shout excitedly. But I didn't do that.  
"Ask me again in a week" He sighed and smiled, and I politely smiled back. After that we dropped the subject.  
"Did I ever tell you about my son?" I shook my head. Whether he had or not I didn't know, but I just knew that I'd never heard. He mustn't have been able to remember anyway, otherwise he wouldn't ask.  
"Ah, remind me to sometime..." With that we nodded at each other and I went back to work.

Life goes on as normal. But before I went back to my desk which could belong to someone with obsessive compulsive disorder, I decided to watch the rockets take off. I always did this, every single day. Now it was just a habit really. I never noticed Yoruichi come up behind me and stand there. It unnerved me to think that she could have been standing there for ages, just watching me watch the take offs. I decided to think that she didn't do that.  
"I heard that you're going to Titan now" I turned to her. She was tall and slender, but very strong. But that was how she was made to be, it would in today's world be impossible for those geneticists to get it wrong. I nodded.  
"In a week, yes" She smiled slightly. From the moment of conception it was decided that Yoruichi would not go to space. She would do many other things which her genes allowed, but her career paths were chosen for her. It was the same for everyone, but not for me...and a few others I did not know in other places.  
"You excited?" Why was everyone asking me this?  
"A bit, maybe. I don't know" She smiled, just like Dr. Kurosaki did.  
"Typical you, never showing anything." I shrugged and turned back to the latest take off.  
"How many do you reckon there are a day of those? A dozen?" Yoruichi asked, probably trying to revive the conversation.  
"Sometimes more"  
"Well you're the only one who watches all of them" I smiled at her. She was the one person I really talked to here, mainly because everywhere I went she was there, and she helped me settle in when I first started. Another spark shot up into the sky, leaving a blinding trail behind it. That was the tenth rocket sent up – they might go over the average today. But then again, the day was drawing to a close. We stood in a silence that had been worn comfortable by years of working together.  
"Congratulations, Kuchiki. You finally got what you came here for" I smiled and nodded at her; it was nice to hear someone say it.

But I was not Byakuya Kuchiki.

* * *

**AN: So I finally got round to writing a Bleach fic. This is all based on the film Gattaca by the way, which you should watch. It's bloody good. The other chapters will be longer than this, by the way, but preludes are always hard to write. This one was horrible because I didn't want to give too much away Dx Anyways, reviews are nice, but non-Byakuya's story will go on anyway 3**


	2. Chapter 2

_I was not Byakuya Kuchiki._

Confusing to most. But this is a time where altering an unborn child to be how you want them to be is normal. Hereditary diseases have basically been wiped out. Everyone has something they were designed to do – the strength to build, the intelligence to teach, you name it. Before anyone is even conceived their lives are planned for them. A couple wants their daughter to have blonde hair and brown eyes, for example. Well, the geneticists can arrange that. Pretty much everyone has a chosen path in life. A destiny, if you will.

Everyone except me.

I will never understand what motivated my parents to choose to avoid the available technology. In this society it would make me a hindered child. But they were adamant, and continued on. They seemed willing to raise an invalid. That's what we're called, because we have no specific purpose. Our lives are basically invalid compared to others. We invalids are people who have not been altered at all; we were conceived naturally. By naturally, I mean in the biological sense. People consider genetic engineering to be natural nowadays. But like everyone else, from the moment of my birth my life span and cause of death had been predicted.  
"Miscellaneous, 10%. Suicide, 15%. Natural causes, 60%. Sudden body failure, 67%. Organ failure, 90%" I can imagine the look on my parents' faces as the nurse read out those figures. Even now, 'organ failure' are still dreaded words. You can't do much for someone who's slowly dying anyway.  
"Organ to fail: heart. Expected life span, 30-35 years" Another hit for them. That's really not long at all. If I had been engineered, I could in theory live forever. In fact, screw in theory; I would live forever. I'm sure that was the moment my parents realised the mistake they had made.  
"What will you name him?" Again, I can imagine the pause. My mother hoping that my father wasn't thinking what he most likely was. He was debating whether or not I would suddenly disappear the moment he got the chance.  
"Renji. We'll call him Renji." Decision made. I would disappear in roughly 30-35 years time.

I had no brothers or sisters, which never surprised me. But I did have Shuuhei, a boy who lived across the street. He had been engineered to be pretty smart and strong in every possible way. His iron immune system meant he rarely fell ill, and he never failed often. Despite my invalid status, he would still insist on treating me like his brother. He was the boy my father wished I was. All throughout my childhood I knew that if he could, he would swap us without thinking. But as I got older, I realised it was something that I should've expected from day one.

With Shuuhei's help, I trained as hard as I could to make myself appear valid. But as always, my limits were much lower than his. But he never had the arrogance to rub it in. He would always just tell me to think of Gattaca. Gattaca is the best space launch centre in the world. Ever since I could remember I've wanted to go to space, where there are no valids and invalids. The stars don't discriminate, they don't care. But the reality was I would never go to space. Gattaca only accepted the best of the best and even then, only the elite of them would go to space. I didn't stand a chance.  
"Renji, put that book down. You know your heart won't let you go to space."  
"Yes, Mum." But I persevered. I would get off this planet or die trying. It was something I had to think of whenever the usual insults set in, or when the pain in my chest started to slowly get worse. I would get into Gattaca somehow.

Shuuhei and I always played Chicken whenever we got the chance. It was a game of strength, where we would go to the beach and swim out as far as we could. Whoever got tired first lost. As expected, it was always me. I never wanted to, but I had to leave myself enough strength to swim back to shore again. Shuuhei didn't have that problem. Even if I managed to go further than the last time, he would always swim right past me as if it was as simple as breathing. But I always agreed to play anyway – it was fun. Besides, he always went through things for me, playing that one game was really nothing in comparison.  
"What're they doing?" Shuuhei asked, looking at two other boys on the beach who had locked their bloody fingers together.  
"Blood brothers" He nodded, but said nothing. We all know that it would be considered a crime if I were to contaminate his blood. To break the awkwardness, he ran out to play one last game of chicken before we had to give up for the day. No one was surprised when he won.

Years later, I did get a job at Gattaca. Like most invalids or failed valids, it was something menial, but it still brought money in. There were about a hundred of us there cleaning that place, all day everyday. But what got to me the most was that I was never so aware of how far from my goal I was when I was right next to it. I'd watch each shuttle go off and remind myself that I would never be on one of them. But as stupid as the job was, I had technically gotten into Gattaca. But it was as close to the childhood dream as I would ever get. Shuuhei would probably be able to get in, even if he was not elite enough for space. But at the end of the day, I only really cared about getting enough money to get away from the people who had put me into this mess. It sounds ungrateful, but they had the option to make me something, and they just chose not to. And I'm sure they knew that they were not the only ones who regretted their decision.

Even though we were adults, Shuuhei and I still played Chicken. Old habits die hard, I guess. The outcome was still the same – even if my distances had become much further and impressive for an invalid, he still beat me every time. But that day was different. It was a normal day where we would play just for the sake of it. That day I decided to put all I had into it, just to see what would happen. I didn't want to save any strength for the swim back, even though I knew I probably would. I wasn't aware of what was happening around me, I just focused on swimming.  
"Renji!"  
I didn't hear at first; I still swam. It was when I realised that Shuuhei was not ahead of me that I stopped.  
"REN—" I turned in time to see him go under. Neither of us were sure what happened, but I had won. I had gone further than him. The memory of dragging him out of the water and back to shore never really left me, because it all seemed so surreal. He never lost, so why did he lose then? We never talked about it afterwards, and the next day I left that neighbourhood to start my own life.

Things never changed after that. Shuuhei and I lost contact, but that was about it. I still tried as hard as I could to make any progress on getting into space, but it was hopeless, and I knew it. But it was still something for me to do, instead of sit and complain about my life like most other invalids. That was a bigger waste of time than trying like I was, as crazy as that sounds. And life went on that way for several years. Every day I would watch every take off and imagine myself there inside the shuttles, instead of wherever I was at the time. Gattaca was the dream of most people at some point, but even most valids had to work hard to get in and even when they did it was still a battle to keep their places. I would just go about my job and envy each one of them for the genes that they had which I did not. And never could have. Until I came across his ad in a newspaper. It was risky and broke the law, but I didn't care. That's how badly I wanted to be inside those shuttles.

It was a risk I was willing to take.

* * *

**AN: Ah this took a while Dx I have exams and they're eating up my life. And I'm pretty lazy sometimes ^^; but I'll try to update more often. There is actually a sideline romance thing in the film, but I don't want to focus on that because the pairing's a bit weird. Also, I prefer the other stuff more, it's more interesting. **

**Anyway, do what you gotta do ;D**


End file.
